Catch Me If You Can
by drama.birdy18
Summary: The Doctor returns to Sarah Jane after Hand of Doom but finds something he wasn't expecting and can't explain waiting for him.
1. Prologue

**And here is the prologue to my chapter story! AU set after Hand of Fear. This takes place immediately following my short drabbles, Alone and Moving On. Reviews are coveted and encourage me to write faster! ;) Oh, and no beta so all mistakes are my own.**

**Disclaimer: I'm a college student, can't afford Doctor Who. But if someone wants to give it to me I'd gladly accept!**

Time is such a strange thing. So much more complex than most of the galaxy could possibly ever hope to understand. It's not linear but not planar either. It casts off every description as being too confining, laughs at every definition given it by those who can never comprehend—and many of those who do. It can be changed, altered. Every moment can be relived, endlessly repeated. Time can fall back on itself, collapse in a beautiful display at the heart of everything. It can be a fickle and demanding enemy or a tender and constant companion. So many events are tied to one specific moment in it. By altering one second, a cataclysmic event can be averted or all of reality could cease to exist. One simple, solitary event can completely change the course of Time. It teaches those that care to listen that, just because something can be done, doesn't mean it should. And none know this better than the Time Lords of Gallifrey.

DW

The Doctor stood perfectly still, one foot out of the TARDIS, the other still within his ship, leaning forward ever so slightly. Indecision was not something he was used to. But his thoughts kept turning back to Sarah Jane. How could he have left her with just the flimsy excuse that humans were not allowed on Gallifrey? He had broken so many other rules, purely for fun, surely he could break this one for her? Her, that's what it all came back to. She was so much more than just a companion. Perhaps even more than his best friend. Or rather, she could've become more than his best friend if he hadn't run away from her. And that was what he was scared of—terrified of. A Time Lord, scared of his feelings for an earth girl. It sounded like such a foolish thing to be scared of with all the terrors he faced down on a regular basis.

The TARDIS hummed behind him, asking why, if it was such a foolish thing to be scared of, he didn't go back to her. And in absolute truth, he didn't have an answer to that, at least not one that she would accept. His eyes scanned the hallway he'd landed in, just outside of the council chambers. By now they were sure to know of his presence and be waiting rather impatiently for him to come in. That was the final reason he needed not to.

The Doctor grinned and took a step backwards, closing the TARDIS doors. He rushed for the console and set the coordinates in a flurry of movement. South Croydon, never had a destination had a more attractive name than that. In just a few minutes, he would have Sarah Jane back aboard the TARDIS and everything would be the way it was supposed to be.

After the TARDIS had fully materialized, but only just, the Doctor was walking—well, it was an admittedly _fast_ walk, probably closer to jogging—across the street to the familiar building. His feet quickly carried him up the steps and to Sarah Jane's door. Before he knocked, he took a moment to compose his features into the slightly manic and childish but perfectly controlled expression this body had adopted early on. The carefully crafted expression nearly disappeared when _she_ opened the door. He swallowed anxiously and asked her if she was ready to go, his voice sounding unusually high even to his own ears.

"Go where?" she curiously questioned.

"Everywhere," he answered, more than a little put out by her distant reaction to his appearance at her door.

"But I don't even know you, aren't you being a little forward?" her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Come now, Sarah, don't you think that's childish, even for you?" he admonished, mentally panicking.

"Don't call me Sarah; it's Sarah Jane. And how did you know at least half of my name anyway?" If she was suspicious before, she was about ready to call for help now.

"_Sarah_," he put extra emphasis on her name, remembering how she'd told everyone else not to call her Sarah but had long since stopped correcting him, "stop this juvenile game and come to the TARDIS with me. Do you want an apology? Is that what you're after? Very well, I'm sorry I left you behind; now I'll accept your apology for threatening to leave."

"The TARDIS? Oh, you seem to have gotten dates mixed up again. I haven't met this you yet," the tension instantly leaked from her frame and she opened the door a bit wider.

"The wrong date? Don't be absurd, Sarah. What year is it?"

"1976," she answered with a smug grin.

"There, you see? I regenerated into this body in 1974, and you were there when it happened," he turned his own smug grin on her.

"That's a strange time for us to go to," she quietly mused. "Nothing important happened that year."

"This is ridiculous, come with me to the TARDIS now or I'll leave you here again." It was a hollow threat and the Doctor knew that, he only hoped that Sarah didn't.

"Alright," she acquiesced with a patronizing sigh. "But you have to get me back here in two hours, that's when the other you will be back to pick me up from wherever it was that he—err, you—went."

"Right," he was beginning to have serious doubts as to Sarah's mental health.

"So where is she?"

The Doctor looked over at Sarah in confusion. She was standing by the widow staring out at the street, her eyes sweeping over the view.

"Don't tell me she's the mailbox again. That was embarrassing enough the first time."

"What?"

"The TARDIS, what's she disguised as this time?" she explained impatiently.

"The police call booth, same as she always is," he answered incredulously.

"Is the chameleon circuit broken again?" her voice held both sympathy and amusement.

"It's been broken since long before we met." He wasn't just having doubts anymore, now he was downright worried.

"What are you talking about? It's always worked perfectly, Father. Well, there were those few times, but overall it's worked like a peach for as long as I've known you."

"Father?" he spluttered out once he'd regained use of his mouth.

"Yes, that _is_ the only name you've ever given me. Are you alright?"

"No, no I don't think I am, Sarah Jane. I don't think I am at all."


	2. Chapter 1

**Sorry this took so long. College caught up with me and theatre's been eating up my free time. Anyway, this tiny bit has been sitting on my computer for the past 2 weeks and, though it still isn't finished, I thought I'd go ahead and upload it. Hopefully I'll have the second half of this chapter done by the weekend. Enjoy!**

**Disclamier: I own an action figure, that's about it.**

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The Doctor stared incredulously at Sarah Jane. Something was wrong, very very _very_ wrong. And he didn't just mean that she had called him Father, as wrong as that was in and of itself. No, something else was wrong here. A feeling he had ignored before. A feeling that was now getting stronger. Something just on the edge of his senses was screaming to be known. It felt so close. All he had to do was reach out for it and the answer would present itself. It was right—

"Sarah, I hope you don't mind I'm back early. At least, I think I'm early, am I?" a familiar voice interrupted the Doctor's thoughts.

He and Sarah both turned to face the newcomer. She smiled warmly at the man standing down the hall wearing what appeared to a cross between a 1940s RAF officer's uniform and a gentleman's suit from the late 1800s. It was an odd combination, even by the Doctor's standards. Something about the man's appearance was as unsettlingly familiar as his voice though.

"Doctor, I wasn't expecting you to stray so far from Gallifrey," the man commented as soon as he noticed Sarah's company. "And interrogating one of my companions as well. Are you alright, Sarah dear?"

"Of course I'm alright. I can take care of myself you know," she protested, though she did walk away from the Doctor and over to who he guessed was 'the Father.' "Doctor—oh! He's the one on the council you're always complaining about."

"He always has been jealous of me, my life. Trying to steal it, Doctor?"

The glint in his eye was the final connection the Doctor needed. He was Tagreth, a fellow Time Lord and old friend—well, acquaintance really, though competition may have been a better description. Their families had been as close as friends as any Time Lords could be and the two of them had always competed over everything growing up, whether it was who could skip a stone the farthest, run the fastest, or compute complex algorithms the most precisely—as all boys throughout time and space tend to do.

"You can stop now, Tagreth. This isn't one of our competitions. Reverse whatever you've done to Sarah Jane," the Doctor demanded.

"Tagreth?" Sarah tested the name uncertainly and looked up at the Time Lord.

The Doctor ground his teeth. Every second _his_ Sarah stood over there by Tagreth was making it more difficult to stay where he was and not physically remove her from his offensive presence. That, however good it would feel, was not the best way to resolve this situation. Tagreth had obviously done something to Sarah's mind, it wouldn't be the first time she was a victim of mind control or hypnosis and if he had his way it certainly wouldn't be the last—that didn't come out right…he didn't mean that he _wanted_ her to have her mind violated, just that she would continue to travel with him which ultimately meant that it may happen again.

"Really, Doctor? that's the best you can come up with?" Tagreth sneered.


	3. Chapter 1 part 2

**Finally got the rest of the chapter finished. Sorry it took so long! I am no longer setting deadlines because they don't make me work any faster just get me worked up. Anyway, please enjoy and an early Merry Christmas in case I don't post anything before then.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who though it is on my wish list!**

"We both know I've never had your way with rhetoric," the Doctor said sarcastically. The idea that any of those stuffy ancient creatures who happened to be from the same race as him could match him in a competition of wits was entirely absurd and utterly laughable. "You can either fix what you've done or I'll do it myself."

Tagreth merely smiled. For once, he knew he was at the advantage. He held all the cards and there was no way the Doctor could beat his hand. By, for all practical purposes, betting this human, Sarah Jane Smith, he had forced the Doctor to bet everything to meet it. The beauty of this particular bet, however, was that he wasn't risking a thing. Tagreth didn't care what happened to the human and losing her wouldn't matter, but the Doctor seemed to think that everyone placed the same amount of worth on his companions as he did. It really did make him spectacularly easy to manipulate.

"I've done nothing to her, Doctor. There is nothing to be fixed. Now stop trying to confuse the girl," he demanded while pulling Sarah Jane closer to himself. While she was confused by what was going on around her, she didn't resist.

The Doctor growled at the action, a deep and substantially intimidating sound—at least it was for non-Gallifreyans. To a Gallifreyan, it was a distasteful show of complete lack of control over one's emotions. He swallowed another undignified noise and took a menacing step forward. The Doctor knew that Tagreth was lying, he had to be. Why else would Sarah be over there instead of next to him?

"You're not going to give up are you?" Tagreth asked with mixed amusement and exasperation. "Very well, Sarah, why don't we humor him? He'll just examine your mind quickly; I promise he won't hurt you. I may complain about him but that's just because he's annoying. He's really quite harmless actually."

The Doctor snorted at the idea of him being harmless. The Time Lords had called him many things over the centuries and harmless had never been one of them. Come to think of it, no one had ever called him harmless before and kept that opinion for long.

"If you're sure that's a good idea," Sarah allowed.

She slowly walked the short distance to the Doctor. Every time she paused to glance back at Tagreth for reassurance, it was like someone had driven a knife into one of the Doctor's hearts and was slowly twisting it. Sarah stood in front of him. Her expression was one he had seen so many times but had never been directed on him before. She was using the brave face she put on when confronting monsters and the vilest of men when she was in all truth terrified. Sarah Jane was scared of him. The knife is his heart jerked sharply in a full circle. The Doctor felt rage rising within him at Tagreth for what he'd done to Sarah and at himself for not being there to protect her.

"I won't hurt you," his voice choked on the reassurance. All the times she had assured him that she trusted him rose unbidden in his mind. The Doctor slowly lifted his hands and gently pressed his fingers to Sarah's contact points. All the while staring intently into her eyes, trying to show her that he would never hurt her but also looking for an increase in fear so he could pull away quickly.

"Hurry up then, some of us have other things to do today," Sarah admonished, trying to insert some humor into the situation. The slight waver to her voice destroyed any attempts at levity.

The Doctor smiled slightly at her attempt anyway. He carefully entered her mind, cautious not to touch anything. "Imagine a door in front of anything you don't want me to see," he whispered. "I'll leave it alone."

She nodded her head ever so slightly but the Doctor could easily feel the movement and saw several doors appear in her mind confirming that she understood. He moved through her mind, looking for the familiar signs of someone altering it. He had done this same thing after so many of their adventures, searching to make sure that everything was in order after she was hypnotized or the like. Despite the circumstances, it felt so good to be connected to Sarah Jane like this, for nearly a minute the Doctor forgot what he was supposed to be doing and just basked in the feeling. Mentally shaking his head and silently berating himself, the Doctor returned to the task at hand.

"Are you quite done?" Tagreth snapped after several minutes had passed. Sarah had long since relaxed as soon as she realized that the Doctor wouldn't be messing with anything or looking at something she didn't want him to.

"Yes," the Doctor drew out the word as he removed his hands from Sarah's face. "I believe I am."

Sarah Jane blinked back the lazy haze of contentment that had settled over her while the Doctor had been wandering through her mind. She didn't step back immediately and just barely resisted the urge to snuggle up against his chest and pillow her head on the ridiculously long scarf he was wearing. Quickly shaking her head to rid it of the strange thoughts, Sarah quickly returned to Tagreth's side. The Doctor's hand lifted as though to stop her from moving but only hung ineffectually in the air between them.

"And your results?" Tagreth nearly growled, fed up with the way the two of them seemed to have forgotten that he was in the room. The Doctor's lips curled up a little upon catching the slight growl in his voice.

"You haven't done a thing to her," the Doctor slowly admitted, the words ground out of his clenched mouth. "But you did do something to me."


End file.
